August 29, 2010

Truth be told, I was preparing myself for a very small number of attendance. What with the week being the mid-term and prime week of tests, I braced myself for the worst. Then I fretted about the forum, wondering about the ‘what-ifs’ and thinking of worst-case-scenarios in which no questions were going to be submitted. The fact is I was worried.

And it was for no hugely particular reason, because God proved otherwise. He reminded me once again that, with Him, absolutely nothing is impossible.

Suffice to say, I was deeply moved by the level of commitment my brothers and sisters had; to come and to serve even in the midst of tests. It’s not to say that we should just ditch our revision time entirely because that would be kind of suicidal; but rather, serving and putting God first allows God to multiply your time, and to bless you. There always has to be this balance and good time management.

That night, I was blessed by our panel speakers as sms-es came in with questions in regards to the Church and Malaysia. Indeed, so many were the sms-es, that we did not have enough time to answer all of them. I believe everyone learnt something that night, and our God was greatly glorified.

I guess God likes to work that way – the smaller the resource, the larger the effect; the smaller the possibility, the greater the outcome.

What a wonderful God we serve!

In His service,

Jan =)

*******

” On Wednesday (1st September 2010), I got back my Physics test paper. However, I failed. I asked God” Why, Lord father? I’d been studying so hard, praying so hard and I’d been praying to invite you into my study life. But do you not hear my prayer of are you not love me anymore.” I was extremely down at that moment. Just on that very night, I suddenly have very terrible headache. I couldn’t study but my next test is approaching and I don’t want to fail again. I also wish so much to attend CA the next day. But if I couldn’t finish my revision, I will not able to attend. Therefore, I started to pray. I claimed God’s healing power in the name of CA, hoping that our Father in the Heaven will listen to my prayer and heal me so that I could concentrate on my revision and able to attend CA the next day.

God was so great. Just after my prayer, God heal me instantly! You would never believe how great God’s healing power was if you never experience it by yourself. Just at that instant when I finish my prayer, I could feel God’s healing power working in my body and the feeling was so real. I recovered instantly and able to do my revision. Praise the Lord! In fact, what I actually gained is more than God’s healing power. Our Father’s healing told me that He still loves me and he never leave me alone. He is always be with me. Something just swap through my mind after my healing, “

Everything that happens in my life, God has a reason behind it. Eventhough he see me fail, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t love me anymore. It’s just like when all of us are young kids, learning to walk, it will come to a point that our parents will just let go their hands and let us walk on ourselves. Sometimes, they see us fall down, but they didn’t carry us up. That doesn’t mean they don’t love us, but they want us to stand up ourselves and continue to walk. They want to build up our strength and let us be able to face failure with courage. This is out of their love which makes them teach us. Same with God’s love. God is our Father. He will never let his children fall into a deep dent and never be able to climb up again. He actually teaches us in our life. It’s just that sometimes we don’t notice it and thought that he doesn’t love us anymore.

Being a new believer, I could actually see that God brings me up in a way that like a father teaching his children, teaching me how to walk in the journey with him. As for God’s teaching, sometimes it’s hurt, but it’s worth. Everything comes with a reason. Failure can also be a beautiful lesson that God teaches us. God’s love is more than what we could think about.”

Hey there! I’m Hannah (senior^^) and this is a short sharing about what I experienced last CA.

I really thanked God for the message by sister Sharon on boy-girl relationship, which was personally relevant. Many times, my roommate and I find ourselves discussing and sharing our thoughts about this issue. Hence, I soon realized that although I claim to commit “everything” into God’s hands, this was one area that I did not let go. Yes, I did pray, asking God to take control and prepare the right one for me. Yet, truth be told, I continued to worry and fret: Will I have a boyfriend? Who will he be? Will I ever get married? if yes, to whom? When? etc., questions which I cannot answer but yet kept pondering. On a night not long ago, God revealed to me that this obsession has gradually begun to replace the passion towards my first love—the Lord Jesus who had been loving me UNCONDITIONALLY. I must have grieved God each moment I allowed my heart to wander away from the perfect love, in search of an imperfect one! I thanked God for this wake up call, opening my eyes to see that He loves me so deeply and dearly all this while, and that I am to love Him whole-heartedly; to seek His kingdom first. Through sister Sharon’s sharing, God was gently reminding me to first focus on the most important relationship of my life—relationship with God alone, and all else will fall into place according to His timing. Praise the Lord!

Birthday Babies

Besides the sharing, I felt touched to see a vibrant new generation serving in CA—the juniors! I really felt welcomed when the new ushers greeted me warmly at the entrance. Zhong Xiang did a great job emcee-ing with Carol, keep up the good work! And kudos to Kenneth and Melvin who prepared the cool and awesome refreshments—ice-cream and wafers! And to others not mentioned here, thank you for making this CA a success! All glory belongs to God! =)

Worship Team

Hannah

____________________________________

Game Session

It was another awesome night at CA! Even though it wasn’t my first time being an emcee, but sometimes usual things in a new environment still makes us nervous (still don’t understand how the name Pastor Patrick came into my mind…). The topic was on Boy-Girl Relationship, and Pastor Anthony’s sharing was just accurate to give youngsters caught in love a new perspective about their blooming “romance”.

Cats & Mouse

Many a time people ask me when are we “mature enough” to start dating? (I am sure it’s not only me wondering about this, because the ENTIRE world had been debating on this since history started) After spending time searching and pondering, I came to a conclusion: “When a boy becomes a man. (Or when a girl becomes a lady)” Then the 2nd question comes along, “What then, is a man? How old are you to be a man?”

This is where the main point comes in. (Not being gender-biased, but I will discuss this from a more familiar viewpoint of a male, haha!) Boys don’t naturally grow into men; it is a process of training which transform them into men. Being a man is never about having specific physical difference from women, it is never about how good you can fight and flirt, and it is never about how old you are. Remember guys, Pastor Anthony said that it is never too young to get serious with God!

At around the age of 13, I was reading a few books on this topic (How to Raise a Modern Day Knight by Robert Lewis & Mark of A Man by Elisabeth Elliot, 2 books I really recommend if anyone out there is trying to find their identity as a man). A quick summary of what I learnt: A man (1) rejects passivity, (2) accepts responsibility, (3) leads courageously, and (4) expects a greater reward, God’s reward. Judging from this, it is never too young to be a man, we can start practicing to be one! And don’t be surprised that at the end of the journey, you will find many males older than us, but yet not as “manly”. Don’t worry about the girls, God will bring them (and the Special One) to you. When God sees that we have done our homework well, He will entrust us with greater things!

As for the girls, sorry that I am still on the way to “fully comprehend” all of you, so I have not much to share. But to have a standard or guideline to live your lives, you can always refer to Proverbs 31: 10-31.

This time, we (the seniors) decided to do something different. Nothing was changed except that in this CA, we did not have any games. WHY?

Like every year, the Campus Alive committees will select one day (one CA night) to promote the ministries in Campus Alive to our fellow juniors. Unlike last year, we planned to do something new; Ministries Fair! Yeap, you heard it right…

Instead of having game session, usually at the beginning of every CA, this time, we opened booths (just the humble tables and laptops) to promote our very own ministry to the juniors. The juniors were given the chance to go to every booth they like or interested in. As for me and Sarah, we are responsible to promote our ministry; Publicity. We used a laptop to show the blog pages saved earlier to the juniors. It was fun promoting our ministry and at the same we got to communicate up close and personal to our juniors. It was rather an awesome experience watching those eager spirits searching for the right ministry for them. May God opens their heart to listen to His calling and sends the right ones to continue the legacy…

After the Ministries Fair, we proceeded to Praise and Worship session led by Jan. One of the songs sang was the CA anthem or CA first ever original! It was a very wonderful song, reflecting the journey the we had while serving in CA… We have learned a lot. Met a lot of people and at the same time spreading the LOVE of Christ… The praise and worship continued with an action song! I can tell, everyone had a very wonderful night.

The sermon (Loving Your Friends) was given by Pastor Joshua. He touched about how Jesus can be our friend. Friends are very important to us, especially when we are far away from our family. In CA, I have met a lot of wonderful people, friends and yes, they are my family. Friends share happiness and also sad moments together. However, there is no friend like Jesus. He is always there, and on top of all, He sacrificed for our sins. What a FRIEND we have… ;)

Later on, we had refreshment and the second CA for the second half of 2010 was over… It was indeed another memorable night I had with all my beLOVEd friends…

August 9, 2010

The following testimony is written from a very dear senior of ours, Theng Theng. She desires that her story be told, because of the amazing grace and love of God she has experienced. And so, we are sharing this with you in hopes that you will be blessed by it…

Dear all,

I’m writing this to you, because I think it’s important for you to learn from my experience before you fly. And I believe this is what God wants me to tell you, my dear juniors :) I know it’s a bit long, but please make sure you read till the end ya? :p

I came to Melbourne in February this year. Unluckily, I fell down and twisted my left knee on the 3rd day of my arrival. That’s the reason I gave many people when they asked me why I was back in Malaysia for the past 3 months (May, June until mid of July). Yes, I actually deferred my studies for 1 semester and took a break in Malaysia. But to come back for knee treatment was only part of the reason I went back. I didn’t tell many the true story behind it because it’s hard for me to explain to them, and I myself was struggling to tell the truth.

To start the story, we would have to go back to my last semester in INTEC. Frankly speaking, that semester was an extremely tough and challenging one for me. Not only due to SAMSA exams, but I wasn’t really in good condition mentally. I had serious self-rejection issues until the point that it affected my social life. And because of past experiences of disappointment and rejection from others, I fell into a deep hole of depression which no one knows, except my mom.

This problem of mine brought forth many chain-reaction effects because it wasn’t handled properly. After a few weeks back home after AUSMAT, my mom probably thought I was fine again. But the fact is, if this issue is not seriously looked into and proper treatment isn’t provided at all, it would never disappear by itself. Soon, I started to have many conflicts with my family members. I became very bitter at heart. I thought of myself as a person who is worth totally nothing at all. And slowly, because I was over-protective of myself from any possible disappointments, hurts and rejections, I never opened myself up to anybody until the point that I started talking to myself.

I gave no serious thought about this and off I flew to Melbourne. After the fall, my life became even more miserable. I wasn’t able to listen to God’s word at all. To me the Word is just a collection of some repetitive letters I’ve been studying all the years. The love my parents showed to me after the injury was nothing but a burden. I even prayed to God so that they would stop loving me. I felt hopeless, helpless, guilty yet unable to react in any way. I went to lectures just to find that my concentration level had dropped to zero level. My mind was totally blank in lecture theatres and tutorials. I had panic attacks whenever I was surrounded by many people, even in church. I couldn’t socialise at all. In fact, I disliked everybody around me. I hated it when they laughed in front of me, when they smiled at me. It was this bitter, this ugly.

When I slowly found out that something was wrong with me, I consulted a mental health doctor in the university. She concluded that I’ve been showing symptoms of Anxiety Disorder. That was the true reason I deferred my studies. It was nonetheless a hard decision to make.

I went back to Malaysia with a heavy heart. I didn’t know what was ahead of me, how long would it take for me to be healthy again. But that’s the only leap of faith I took throughout my stay in Melbourne: to let go of everything and let Him take me to wherever He wants me to be.

Throughout the 3 months back home, my family has been a great support to me. Through their prayers, God brought me to the realisation that I’m a gift to my parents, someone they love and treasure very much; that the guilt I have for making them worry due to my injury and all wasn’t necessary at all, because their love for me is unconditional, just like His love for me. My pastor and elders in church showed me their concern by constantly keeping me in prayer and encouraging me with testimonies. I never felt so loved by so many people before. I found my sense of belonging at home, and in His home. I never knew that I would have such value in the eyes of those people I respect so much. He makes all things new for me. I spent time reading some books from my pastor. Only then I realised that all this while I was blindfolded by Satan’s deception, to make me feel that I’m not worthy of any love at all, holding me back from receiving blessings from Him. That 3 months, He opened up my eyes and ears to see and hear the truth. He showed me that, every pain I go through, He feels it himself.

If there’s one most important lesson that He’s taught me, that would be LOVE. God was telling me that His love can fulfill all my needs. The fear that I had in my heart, the only way to cast them out was to fill my heart with His love. Rejection, disappointment and hurt that’ve left so many scars in my heart, the only thing I needed to free myself from that pain, was His love that brings about true forgiveness. He, is LOVE. And because of that, He promised to give me a future, a plan to prosper me and not to harm me, without looking at my ugly past. He said, no matter how dark your past was, you’ll still shine like stars in the future, because He doesn’t care at all about your past. I just needed to know how MUCH He loves me. He sent Jesus down to take away all my sins even before I was born, there’s no greater love than this. And yes, you and I are this VALUABLE to Him.

I’m now back to Melbourne, and I’ve just started university. Everything that happens to me now is a sweet blessing from Him. I’m counting my blessings each day, and learning to love myself as well as everybody around me. I’m filled with His heavenly joy and peace that tears would just roll down my cheeks every night I give thanks to Him, looking back at what He’s done with my life. More is to come, He says.

My dear juniors, I’m writing these to tell you how BIG our Mighty Creator of Universe is. Now when I flip through the pages of my diary, I see a process, a process of how God is moulding a daughter of His for His great work on earth. From depression, to anxiety, and now to faith, hope and love, He’s the only one that can make this possible.
REMEMBER to guard your hearts and thoughts well, people. Never ever open any doors for Satan to stay in your mind and build his temple there. Fill your mind with positive thoughts, knowing that you’re VICTORIOUS and RIGHTEOUS in His name. I’ve wasted much time dwelling in my negative thoughts, undervaluing myself when I could actually do so much for His kingdom. Don’t follow my footsteps, but always dwell in His presence. Wherever you are, whichever country you’re headed to, remember that you’re there for a purpose. He CARES about every aspect of your life more than you actually do.

I love you all, and hope that you’ll be an ambassador of Christ even now. You guys are an awesome bunch of people I so dearly miss. :)

~*Colossians 1: 10-12*~

Love,
Theng Theng

If anyone is experiencing something similar to what Theng Theng went through, please let someone know. We are more than willing to help out or give advice and to pray for you. Remember, Jesus loves you and we love you too. :)

August 1, 2010

First Campus Alive for the juniors! We (the seniors) were looking forward for this day to come. A year ago, it was our first and finally it was time for us to organize the first Campus Alive for our dear juniors…

The participation from our juniors, seniors and fellow batch mates was AWESOME! Managing the transport to Kota Kemuning was not (always) an easy task. Thankfully we have the amazing transport ministry to make sure nobody misses the opportunity to come and celebrate our first CA for this semester. Thank God also as the new highway LKSA (or also known as LAKSA) was officially open and the journey to Kota Kemuning was shorter.

mr super senior :)

As usual, the event started with games to increase the bond between the newcomers, the juniors, seniors as well as SUPER seniors!

It was indeed a very special night. Campus Alive committees performed a short sketch ala-musical. The theme of the sketch was about how a new college student (Harry Kettle, Royston) struggle to fit in into the different cliques in college. However, in the end, he realized that he does not have to pretend to be someone else in Campus Alive. This is because, God loves us equally and unconditionally and here in CA, we accept one another despite our difference, capabilities or even weaknesses. Later on, the praise and worship was led by Abigail and Bryan. It was really touching to hear the voices of more than 160 people who came, sang along and worshiped him. It was a record to have that number of people came to Campus Alive. Our Campus Alive is growing. Praise the Lord!

another emo dude...

cool dude and emo dude

The sermon “Loving Your Family” was given by Pastor David Yeow. It was a very interesting sermon especially for juniors who have just left their home to further their study. The bubbly Pastor sure knew how to grab the attentions of the students that came that night with his funny and hilarious actions.

sermon time :)

Last but not least, before the refreshment was served, we also celebrated the birthday for July babies. Thanks to ACTS church for helping to prepare some snacks for refreshment. The curry puffs was tastilicious! Finally it was time to say goodbye. It was a really memorable night, not just for the juniors but also for the seniors for organizing the first CA without our beloved seniors.

Now, lets hear what they have to say…

*******

Campus Alive is very fun and exiting! It makes me feel that I’m home with my family. I realized that wherever I go, I will never feel lonely because I have a very big family in Christ. I can make friends with a lot of people and we have a great time together. There are fun activities such as games and sing along. We are truly brothers and sisters in Jesus. The sharing by the pastor was also very touching. Thank you to the seniors who made all this things happened. The refreshments are very nice too. I’m really looking forward to attend the next Campus Alive gatherings.

ushers :)

Haszura Senghie

*******

Last Thursday, I was given to the opportunity to Co-lead worship in CA. At first, I was quite scared and nervous to co-lead when Abigail told me to do so. But then, I took courage to take this task when I remembered a verse in the bible that says love the Lord with all your heart, and to me, serving God in music is a good way to express my love for Him.

praise and worship team

guitar-men (morgan & howard) and bryan

I was actually reminded again last Thursday that serving God is not a burden but instead, a way to please Him. In fact, serving God is also a thing that I can be joyful in. I remembered despite finishing late for practice (and had lots of homework to finish), I found great delight and refreshed in all worries and cares.

praise and worship team

Everyone should involve themselves in serving God (in any ways). Believe me, those who serve will be even closer to God. Serving God should also be something that is from a person’s heart. God will remember what you did for Him, and indeed, will bless you with more blessing. PROVE: Matthew 6:33 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

music or singing...praise Him at all times :)

Bryan

*******

To start with, INTEC is definitely not what I expected it to be! I knew that it would be a totally new experience for me but it turns out that the short time I have spent here is much more enjoyable than what I had imagined, and it goes beyond the average life of a student. Of course lessons are getting tougher and assignments are piling up but with so many great friends and sporting seniors, the days just fly by! Plus, not only is there arranged transport to church, there are also gatherings and the best of all is CAMPUS ALIVE! I had so much fun! Seriously, u guys rock!!! It was truly an amazing experience and it felt so good to belong in such a wonderful community. Praise the Lord for that! Keep it up, guys! Can’t wait for the next CA! :)

Simrenjit Singh

*******

When Steven came and asked me whether I would like to serve God, my first thought was actually, “yeah! ushering!”, as I really like to meet up with new people, make all guests feel like pampered in their homes.

“Can you please write a blog about today’s CA, and can you please send it to me once you have finished, erm, before next week?” and, yup, I accepted the request, without any hesitation, and I really don’t know why I accepted it at the first place. I always believe that God will put me at the right place, at the right time, to serve Him, the one almighty God.

(And sorry for being such a lazy writer. I was busy on parade until I can’t really stay awake every time I tried to open my laptop to continue my blog.)

XD and this blog will become one of my testimony for Campus Alive, and just as its name sounds, it’s alive. God Bless.

Game was fun, albeit torturing, as I wasn’t really good at running, but we did have lots of fun together with each other. Little game bonds us together, and we can always learn something even better through games, and I discover that, “smile is always be the best encouragement/gift a person can received.” and laughters filled up the hall as we witnessed the winners’ aesthetic calligraphy of “CA” with their butts. (Dickson, awesome buttwriting. in cursive). LOLZ. ><

Praise and worship has been one of my most favorite part during a fellowship. Voices arose among everyone, either you are a believer, or a non-believer, and we enjoyed every moment singing together. Combining both fantastic concert-like band and diva-ish lead singers like Bryan Goh, praise and worship is a success. God will surely be delighted with the worship we have for him. What He loves more is seeing us stand up united, singing in one voice with melodious notes flying all over the hall without distinction among ourselves. Praise the Lord!

“and God Loves Us, the way you are.” Isn’t that what CA is all about? Everyone is welcome to join CA despite your origins, your background, your race, your religions. We are here, in God’s grace, learning together, and having fun together. Through the funny sketch by all CA committee members, I discover that in CA, nobody will feel lonely. We are here to care for each other. They have sincere smiles on their face. Listen to lots of sharing, chit-chat with friends. X)

Love is always a crucial part in life, but sometime after doing a reality check, we may find it hard to have love nourish in between a relationship, and one of the world hardest relationship to be well taken care of is parents- kids relationship. As scholars who just get themselves a total freedom from their family, we felt homesick; no matter how much we dislike our family, the feeling will still traumatize us. Having their first time to study away from home, most of the juniors, I believe, will find today’s sermon meaningful as they begin to embark a new journey of life without the accompany from their parents.

Pastor Dave Yeoh from Acts Church (yeepee, I love him. I cried in his last sermon given in last year. Do refer back to Campusalive website for more information) gave an excellent sermon on how we should love our parents. In other words, how we show our love to them by replying them politely when things get ugly between parents and kids. COOL! (I really need something like that now. ) It’s true that loving our parents is easy, but showing our love to them is hard for a number of people. After the sermon, I missed them so badly. Daddy, Mommy, are you ok>?

(It shows how wonderful our holy bible is as well: it proves our Holy Bible isn’t as doctrinaire as they thought. XD)

Overall, it’s an awesome experience to know my new juniors, share my experience with my juniors, have a wonderful fellowship with friends from different programs, states, religions, family background.

and sorry to all my juniors whose names have always been forgotten by me. I will try my best to remember all my friends’ names in CA.

Campus Alive is a wonderful melange of lively campus students who are interested in make a difference in the campus. By having faith in God, we believe we can have a wonderful time with everyone who joins CA. We are a big family, that’s why we smile when we saw you… …

“Home Sweet Home, my church brothers and sisters.”

Akira

*******

Well, it’s been two years since I left my school days, I’m pretty sure being a super senior in my primary school (yep, I’m talking about you two, Sharellena and Sandra) and super senior in secondary school was quite uneasy.. I prefer being humble and be friends with them, rather than acting as if you’re clever type of senior and pretended you knew more than them..Hehe

the emo dude...

To tell you all, I wrote this note not because I want to boast about my life, nor being proud of myself being better than the others… It’s about a ‘call’ from God that wants me to tell all of you about my life… I felt there is a presence of Him kept telling me to write this note to all of you, I felt God wants me to do this because He cares all of us, and He shows His love towards us. Being alone in the dark, sad is not the choice that God wants us to do, instead being satisfied with your life, happy and have faith is all what it takes to be the sons of God, the Christians and even the non-believers because He believe someday, all of us will step in front and committing our life towards Him, be there with Him forever and always..Amen…

Here, I would like to tell all of you about my life after adolescence era, because I’m scared when I turned 20 years old next year, I wouldn’t be able to remember all of this and God must be quite upset not telling you all…hehe well, where should i start? I’ve grown up, have a life, eat what I like and sleep whenever I want…=) i swear if i’m telling you this, i would have lied, because all things gets tougher and tougher sometimes and u may not discovered when that moment comes to you that may bring you down.

I discovered myself being in that situation number of times… Being stress easily lower down your confidence and that’s the moment when you realized you’re down and felt the melancholy melody after all the problems you’ve faced through. There’s one time where I found myself being foolish for what I’ve done, and I regret for not being the best of the best as I promised… seriously i let my tears out for all the problems i’ve created in studies, relationship with family, relationship with friends and relationship with my love one, i put all the burden on my shoulder for that moment because i know i made a mistake i shouldn’t have done in the first place.

I made people annoyed sometimes, and the most painful of all, I made my love ones disappointed. At that time, I felt as if I want to punish myself for what I did, every time I slept I felt sad and I realized I’ve lost my way. My mind start playing with tricks on me, telling me to just gave up and keep disappointing until the end. I felt if I’m given another chance, I would turn back the time and fix all the problems I’ve created. I will say ‘I’m sorry’ not caring how many times I would say up that word as long as the ones I’m hurting accept my apology. That’s when I felt down not knowing what to do.

All of a sudden, I realized that when I lost the way, I lost the way that connects me towards the only one that cares about me, that always be there to support me, always be there to make me happy and always be there to lay His precious hand to support the burden I’ve always carry. So at that moment I closed my eyes and I prayed:

“Dear heavenly father Lord, I would like to thank You for so many times, that You never let me sad, You never left me when I’m down and You never let me lost the way to You as long as I kept You inside my heart. I would like to committed myself to You and I realized for all the problems I faced, it’s all about Your plans and Your obstacles that made me strong. I believe I would be fine under your guidance Father Lord and I pray and I hope that You would soften the hearts of all the people around me to accept my apology and for the truth, I love the ones I hurt and I promise not to made all of you disappointed under Lord’s guidance..Amen…”

Once I finished the last sentence of the prayer, I’ve setting up my plans and my promises to all of those who felt hurt for what I’ve done to them, and under Lord’s guidance I would never do anything that can make all of my love ones disappointed. Deep in my heart I’m sorry and I promise I will be better and better for the days to come. That’s my promise and my life holds with it until the end…